


The 'Let's make Zach miserable' mission

by Sandra_Taylor



Series: Squad Goals [3]
Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Age Difference, Fluff, M/M, POV Gray, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 17:24:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14794755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandra_Taylor/pseuds/Sandra_Taylor
Summary: Gray arrives to the Jurassic World. The next two weeks are... interesting.Claire recruits Gray and Zach is not happy. Mostly fluff and Owen and Zach being disgustingly adorable together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> What was supposed to be another snippet from the Squad goals series became a 10k fic. I have no idea how that keeps happening.
> 
> Chaptered for Chasyn. This is a little shorter than the original work, but I decided to try the whole chaptered thing

Gray loves his summer camp. He’s been going there for years now and is close to the age when he won’t be able to come anymore. He’d be disappointed, but for the last two years he’s had the opportunity to work with the brightest scientists of the States, sometimes even some from around the world, and he loves every minute of it.

He’s not really sorry he’s leaving, though. Not the way he used to be. Because this time around he’s not coming home for another two weeks. Not really, anyway.

He stops home just because his flight isn’t scheduled for another few hours, he can drop the dirty clothes for mum that way and he can eat before leaving again. And he can talk to mum for at least few hours.

He sleeps through the flight, but that’s not unusual. Zach doesn’t usually feel comfortable enough to sleep in a plane, but Gray has never had this problem.

When he steps out of the plane, it’s Sunday and it’s 8AM, so he knows not to expect Zach. Plus, he really likes their aunt. She’s awkward and often lost, but he’s even more awkward with other people and everyone is lost when he rambles, so he doesn’t take it personally. And she tries, which is always a plus in Gray’s book.

“Hey, aunt Claire,” he grins at her and she smiles back.

“Hello, Gray. Do you want to stop for a breakfast, or are we good to go?”

“Breakfast sounds great. How are you, aunt Claire?”

“Quite nice. Let’s sit down for our breakfast and talk.”

Gray frowns at that. Like he said, it’s not like he doesn’t like aunt Claire. But she usually doesn’t seek out his presence. But he takes his bag and follows her.

“Is something wrong?”

“Not... wrong, per se,” she says, but she’s making a face and Gray is shocked. Claire is much more relaxed around her family, especially during Christmas, when she’s actually away from the island. Yet the only moment she makes faces is late in the evening, when she’s pushing tipsy and slowly becoming drunk. There’s no way she’s in that state this early in the morning. “I... will tell you over breakfast. Don’t worry about it now.”

But Gray’s brain is already running every bad scenario he knows. Did something happen on the isle? He’s sure he’d hear about that, so that’s probably a no. Did something happen with Zach? Did he finally run himself sick? Gray frowns at that. Much more likely. If that’s the case he’s gonna have some stern words with Owen. They worked out a system last year, why isn’t Owen sticking up to it now?

They go to some café that Claire looks very comfortable in. She hardly looks at the menu, but gestures to him to choose from it. He’s still not one for coffee, so he gets a breakfast sandwich with juice while aunt Claire gets her coffee.

Claire asks about his summer and Gray babbles. He knows he’s babbling, but it’s actually comforting for him. Permitting him to tell her about his summer while thinking about what could be wrong. It has to be Zach. There’s nothing else he and Claire have in common. Other than his mother but he’s seen her just a few hours ago, he’s sure she’s fine. And if there was anything he should know she’d tell him herself.

But Gray babbles and waits for his breakfast. Then he takes two bites from his sandwich before finally asking.

“So what is it, aunt Claire? Is Zach alright?”

Claire looks at him for a moment, all laser focus, before turning to her coffee for a moment.

“Zach is unhurt. But there is something I am worried about.” She hesitates then, just for a moment. “I probably shouldn’t be the one telling you this, but... the whole island knows by now and I could really use your help. Your brother is dating Owen.”

Gray blinks in surprise and sets back down his sandwich. This is... certainly new information.

He thinks back to last year. How Owen always took care of Zach. How he was the only one who was able to talk Zach into relaxing. How he always knew his preference for dinner without Zach having to say anything. How Zach gravitated towards him and how Owen was always aware of where Zach was. How Owen’s smile sort of... gentled when he looked at Zach.

It makes sense, Gray realizes. The teasing and jokes could be easily seen as flirting and, Gray realizes right now, that’s exactly what it was.

Plus, Zach’s orientation isn’t exactly news to him. Once he came out to them he became much more relaxed, more open. Gray never knew what to think of his brother, but since his coming out Zach wasn’t so... closed up anymore. Gray likes that.

“Okay,” he shrugs and continues in his breakfast. “What do you need my help for?”

Claire looks down to her coffee and thinks for a while. That’s fine with Gray. He knows what it’s like to need to think through his words, so he doesn’t hurry her up. It’s not like they don’t have the time, after all.

“I’m... worried, about Zach. Owen is too old for him and he isn’t one for a stable relationship.”

“Didn’t you date him a few years back?”

“Exactly. That’s how I know he’s not very good at it.”

Gray doesn’t look at her, but he does scrunch his nose. He doesn’t think that’s how it works. He never really thought that Claire and Owen are right for each other. He guesses the sex could be good, but they never really fit with each other. Not the way Zach and Owen seem to fit.

But what does he know. He’s fifteen and not sure he’s attracted to anyone other than Samantha from his camp and that crush has been going on for years without him being able to tell her, so he really can’t talk.

“What do you expect of me, then?”

“I... well, there’s no delicate way to say this, so I’ll just say it. I don’t want the two of them to be alone, let alone during night. I am monitoring where Zach is, so I know that he’s too busy during the day usually. He’s also no longer spending late evenings at Owen’s bungalow, so that’s good.”

Gray frowns a little bit.

“You monitor him?”

“Yes. I got Lowery to put GPS to his phone. Considering it’s his work phone, he has to take it everywhere with him.”

“Does he know about it?”

“That would defeat the purpose of making sure he’s not alone with Owen, don’t you think?”

Gray frowns at that. Hacking a phone to put a GPS tracker in it sounds fun. He actually already has questions for Lowery about it. But using it like this... he’s not really happy about that.

“But... why shouldn’t they be alone? They are both adults.”

Claire’s eyes darken and Gray fidgets a little bit.

“I’m trying to protect your brother, Gray. Are you going to help me with it?”

He frowns at his plate. He doesn’t like what aunt Claire’s doing. But what would she do if he didn’t agree to help?

“Yeah, sure. I’ll help.”

This way he can decide what’s warranted and what’s over the top and maybe even help Zach enjoy his last two weeks on the island.

 

***

 

They head to a different set of flats than last year. Gray’s not surprised. It’s not like Zach has a stable flat in here. He is only an intern after all.

Claire knocks on the door and there’s some movement in the flat and a cursing voice that’s not Zach’s. Claire’s face darkens and Gray has to hold in a snort. What was it Claire told him? Zach doesn’t spend nights at Owen’s bungalow anymore, right?

At least they’re both dressed when Zach opens the door. Owen is in the kitchen part of the flat, just finishing preparing their breakfast. He looks a little bit guilty, but Zach looks determined when he lifts his chin and looks Claire right in the eyes.

“Hey, Gray.” He grins at his brother, though, and Gray returns it happily. “I thought you’d text when you landed.”

He did so last year and the year before that. He just... with aunt Claire there to pick him up and their talk and everything, he forgot.

“Sorry, Zach. Are those waffles?”

He slips next to Claire and Zach, leaves his bag on the couch and moves to Owen, who’s just finishing the last waffles. There’s a small tower of them on one plate, while another two plates wait on the bar with coffees and Nutella next to them.

“Can I have some?”

Owen chuckles, but he’s already pulling out another plate from a cupboard. Gray notices that he didn’t need to look around for it, he knew exactly where he was going for the plate.

“You want something with it? Tea, chocolate, juice?”

“Tea would be awesome. What do you have?”

“Ugh... what tea do we have, Zach?”

“Black. You know better than to ask that question, Gray.”

Gray also notices how it’s “them” now. Claire doesn’t even react to it, which means that it’s not exactly new.

“So, how long are you two together?”

The tea falls from Owen’s fingers and he curses, while Zach sighs and rubs his forehead a little bit.

“Please, tell me aunt Claire told you and you’re not using your crazy observation skills on us.”

“Claire told me. But you are kinda obvious,” Gray shrugs. “Free day?” he asks Owen.

He follows the park on social media, of course. And it’s only partly because he’s interested in what Zach’s doing. He likes the little tidbits of information the raptor’s and now herbivore’s twitter passes daily and he likes the photos their Instagram profiles have. He’s not such a big fan of their Facebook pages (or any pages of the general account, to be honest), but he can see it has its own function.

But yes, he does follow them, so he knows about how twice a month the raptor’s paddock is closed for visitors. He figured it’s mostly for Owen’s benefit. Everyone else has someone who can do their job for them if they want to have a free day, but not Owen.

“Yeah. We were thinking about going swimming, grill something for lunch and just relax. Well, that and shopping. The waffles are the only thing that’s left here, so it’s a must if you two want to survive the next two weeks in here. Wanna join us?”

“Sure. Swimming in the lake by the bungalow?”

“I don’t know,” bites Zach with a little poison in his voice. “Are we allowed there for the whole day? But maybe the fact that Gray will be there will make all the difference?”

Gray’s surprised by the hostility Zach shows to their aunt. He wasn’t really thrilled by her when they started coming here, but lately he’s been closer to her than Gray himself. But right now he looks angry. And honestly, Gray can’t say he blames him.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Zach. Of course you can go swimming in the lake.”

“What, you’ve got cameras there that will monitor that we’re actually swimming?”

“Zach.” That’s Owen and while he does sound tired, there’s also an underline of amusement in it. Zach has to hear it, too, because he turns towards Owen and winks at him. Gray stares at him for a moment, surprised. He doesn’t think he’s seen such an open expression on Zach’s face... ever, probably. “You’re welcome to join us, too, Claire, if you have free day. Waffles?”

“No, thank you, I already ate. It was nice seeing you, Gray. I will see both of you tomorrow for breakfast.”

Zach mutters something Gray can’t hear and Claire sends a warning look towards Owen. Owen hardly notices, instead he piles three waffles on Zach’s plate and pushes the Nutella closer to him, before going back to kitchen to finish Gray’s tea.

“Sorry about that,” sighs Zach and looks up from where he’s putting Nutella between the waffles on his plate, smiling a little at Gray. “I didn’t want aunt Claire telling you, but it’s not exactly something you say through a text.”

“It’s fine,” shrugs Gray. “A little awkward, but fine.”

“Awkward?” Owen asks as he puts his tea in front of Gray and finally sits next to Zach and gets his own coffee. Gray notices that his free hand slips to Zach’s leg and squeezes once before returning to his breakfast.

“Well, you went from almost uncle to practically brother-in-law. Forgive me for thinking it’s a little awkward.”

Owen makes a face, but Zach snorts.

“Yeah? Try from uncle to boyfriend.”

Gray and Owen both make faces at that, but Zach simply laughs.

“That’s... don’t say that ever again.”

“What? You don’t think that would make for a nice little meet cute for our colleagues?”

“All our colleagues already know how we met. Hell, with how nosy they are they probably know how we got together. We don’t need a meet cute.”

They tease each other for a while, which gives Gray the perfect opportunity to steal a waffle for himself. Just one’s fine, he just ate after all, but still. It also gives him a chance to see their interaction.

It’s the same as always between the two, except it’s not. Not at all. There’s no space between them. Gray knows from experience that Zach is very sensitive about his personal space, so seeing him leaning into Owen’s touch is a surprise. It’s also obvious that it’s not a new development. They’re too comfortable with each other. They move around each other almost fluidly. There are still a few moments where they have to stop and find out a way to work around each other, but it’s not as often as it probably should be in such a small space.

They go shopping and it’s a little bit weird for Gray. Mostly because he feels like he’s third wheeling. While shopping! How is that even possible?

After that Zach and Gray take most of what they bought to their flat (because it is theirs now that Gray is here and yes, Gray feels a little bit guilty about it. It was easier to ignore it last year but for some reason, this year it’s harder) while Owen gets on his bike and gets the rest of the food to his bungalow. Which gives Gray and Zach some space and time.

Zach asks about his camp and Gray babbles for almost half an hour. But Zach’s smiling and laughing at all the right places and Gray feels great about it. But it’s not the only thing he wants to talk about.

They’re already on their way to Owen’s place by the time Gray’s ready to change the subject. They left the center and with it the tourists behind them, but there’s still enough time before they arrive to Owen’s that Gray is comfortable with just the two of them.

“How long have you two been together?”

Zach blinks a little in surprise, but answers almost immediately. That’s what Gray likes about his brother. He’s almost never surprised by the turns in his thoughts.

“Almost a month now. Actually,” he smiles a little embarrassed smile Gray has never seen on him before, “it was exactly four weeks yesterday.”

Gray’s not sure what to think about that.

“Is that, like, an anniversary or something?”

Zach frowns a little.

“I don’t know. Don’t think so? We didn’t do anything special. Can’t even go to the hunts together anymore...”

“Anymore? You went on a hunt?!” Gray practically yells. “Owen took you with him? How was it? How long did it last? Did they hunt all together? How did they decide who’s gonna eat when? Oh, you were the one taking the photos of the last two hunts, right? Do you have more of them? Can I see them? Can I go with you next time?”

Because sure, Zach and Owen’s relationship is new and that makes it interesting, but hunting raptors? Much more awesome.

It’s not until they’re almost there, they can already see Owen in front of his bungalow, chilling in a chair in front of it, when Gray realizes that he had another question for Zach.

“So... you don’t mind me being here, do you?”

He’s a little nervous about the answer, so the fact that this time Zach does need to catch up to his thought train only makes it worse.

“What? No, of course not. What makes you say that?”

Gray shrugs and makes himself look at Zach. Zach looks worried about him and Gray smiles at him a little bit.

“It’s just... honestly, it looks like the two of you don’t really have the time to... spend together.”

Zach snorts at that.

“Aunt Claire recruited you to her little ‘Let’s make Zach miserable’ mission, huh?”

“I think she’s calling it ‘Keep Zach safe’ mission, but... yeah.”

Zach snorts at that. They both stopped just behind the line of the trees, so that Owen can’t really see them here.

“Sounds like bullshit, but okay. Sorry about you being sucked right in the middle of it all.”

“It’s okay. She just worries. I like it better than if she didn’t care at all.”

“Speak for yourself,” mutters Zach quietly. He’s frustrated and in that moment Gray’s really glad he told aunt Claire he would help her. That way he can hopefully keep Claire worry free and Zach happy at the same time.

And if something really happens and Owen hurts Zach, Gray will help aunt Claire hide the body.

“Besides,” Zach smiles at him, “we found a way to work around aunt Claire, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“Yeah, but... you’re not keeping that up, right?” Gray grimaces a little. “I like Owen, but I don’t have to be in the same room you two sleep together.”

“Of course not,” Zach sighs just a little bit. “We’ll figure something out. Now come on. I really want to go swimming after the walk.”

 

***

 

The next day, Gray meets Lucy and Sarah. While he hits it off with Lucy almost immediately, Sarah is a little bit more complicated. She snarks at him and while rationally, Gray can see that she doesn’t mean it in a mean way, it still puts him off. And not a little, but a lot.

But he gets to exchange information with Lucy and then run along and see all the attractions with Zach, so he’s not complaining. Zach is much more excited about the attractions than he ever was, thanks to his new focus on herbivores, and Gray enjoys the day probably even a little bit more than he expected.

He’s even more surprised in the evening, when they’re on the couch in the flat, watching some movie, when the door opens and in comes Owen who has Chinese in hands. The Chinese Zach asked him about around twenty minutes ago and Gray assumed he then ordered on his phone. Obviously, that’s not what happened.

Zach gets up and goes to greet Owen with a kiss, before going to the kitchen. Together, they put the food on plates and prepare drinks for them before taking it to couch where Gray is still sitting. Now he moves into an armchair, so Owen and Gray can have the couch for themselves.

Owen asks Gray about his day and then intently listens as Gray babbles about his day. When Gray asks him about his day, he moans and groans about his PR department for some reason.

“You do know they’re not really your department, right?” snorts Zach, not even looking at Owen. “They work directly under Claire.”

“Yeah, which is why they are such a pain in my ass. Claire has a terrible influence on Monica. Actually, I think her blackmailing me is your fault.” He nudges Zach a little. Zach looks at him with a fake surprise and a lot of amusement in his eyes.

“My fault? How is Monica bullying you my fault?”

“You know how, you prat. Your photos from our hunt are the most popular photos ever.”

“But I let her put it on her account and take all the credit for it!”

“I think that’s even worse for her. Hey!”

Zach steals a dumpling from Owen and Owen punches him with his chopsticks. Zach rolls his eyes, but feeds him some chicken of his own. Owen still mutters something, but Gray’s not paying attention anymore.

Is that what Claire wanted from him? Be there while they’re all sappy and cute and kinda gross? Because he’s not comfortable with that. Not at all.

“So,” he says loudly and pointedly doesn’t look at them, “what are we watching? And if you guys choose some chick flick, I’m calling aunt Claire.”

“Actually, we started Doctor Who marathon some time ago.” Gray blinks at that in surprise. He’s been telling his brother about the show for years now and now’s when he decides to actually watch it? “We just started season three. That okay with you?”

“Are you kidding me? Yes!”

Owen leaves after three episodes. While Zach steps out with him to say goodbye, Gray cleans after them. He doesn’t want to start another episode without Zach. But when he cleans after them and Zach is still not back, he simply sighs and starts washing the dishes. The flat is small enough that there’s no dishwasher, but he’s actually glad for it right now.

He’s in the middle of the dishes when Zach comes back. He’s red in the face and smiles a little awkwardly at Gray before going to the bathroom. Gray can hear the shower for another twenty minutes and he’s happy that he has something to do in the meantime.

 

***

 

Turns out Zach’s work isn’t as fabulous as Gray thought on that first day. Going on the same rides over and over again and just waiting for the right light, for the light angle, for the right dinosaur...

Honestly? Gray is bored.

He’s bored and he’s annoying Zach and he hates it but can’t help himself. It’s awful.

“That’s it. Gray, I love you, but you’re driving me crazy here.”

Gray shuts up and blinks in surprise. He doesn’t remember Zach telling him he loves him outside of Christmas and his birthday ever before. But now Zach doesn’t even blink at him.

“So tell me – what do you want to do? I can give you some money and let you wander alone, or we can call Zara and figure out if you can do something with her or aunt Claire. Or we can head to the raptor’s arena and you can hang out there. It’s almost two, which means that the paddock is probably placing an order for someone to bring to them and if we’re quick enough, we can catch a ride and a lunch with them.”

And that’s another surprise. Not at Zach himself, not really, but... when Gray gets annoying, their mother usually deals with him by busying him in one specific way. She never gives him choices.

But he’s seen Claire yesterday and he’s never been as close to Zara as Zach is and there is nothing for him to do in the center.

... well, maybe go talk to Lowery, but that’s mostly because he’s heard so much about him and would love to meet him, not because he’s seen him before.

So really, he knows what he wants to do.

“Honestly, I feel betrayed. I’ve been here for two days and I still haven’t seen the girls.”

Zach grins at him, wide and unguarded.

“Well, we should really correct that, shouldn’t we? Come on, let’s get going.”

They’re not quick enough, so Zach texts Owen to save them a pizza or two. They can’t get up north till the buses for tourists start going there, but they do go with the first one, so when they come up north they still can go backstage and say hi to Barry and Owen and some other people. There’s also Monica and Carl and Jon, but they’re busy and Zach promises him he’ll introduce them after. Instead they just grab three boxes of pizza and go sit... somewhere up there?

“I will be doing the show from over there,” Owen points to a bridge that starts just a few steps over, a bridge that goes above a northern gate. “And you can see the show great from here once the girls are inside.” And when Gray looks he can see very well into the arena. “But right now, let just sit down and get some lunch.”

“You didn’t eat your lunch?” Zach frowns at him.

“You’re one to talk, mister forgets to eat regularly.”

“Hey! I’ve been better about it this summer.”

“You mean your girls bombard you with messages until you sent them a photo proving that you actually ate.”

“Don’t judge me. I swear I put on weight this summer.”

Gray sees Owen frown and open his mouth and that’s when he decides he’s done with the two of them. He honestly doesn’t know why aunt Claire is so set on keeping them apart. All he’s seen of them in the last three days is them being a big dorks, not sexual... predators, or whatever it is she thinks they are.

“Hey, younger brother present! You wanna be insecure about your nonexistent fat, you can do it in your own time, I’m trying to eat here.”

Zach pouts a little and Owen laughs at that. Then, Zach laughs.

“Puberty, it’s a terrible thing. I remember him being a shy kid, would you believe it?”

“Babe, he is a shy kid. You’re his brother. Who else is he supposed to train his snark on?”

“Isn’t mother usually the one for it?”

“You snark mum and you know how terrible it makes her feel. I’m not doing that to her.”

“What about aunt Claire?”

“She pays for everything I do here.”

“Owen?”

“The raptors trainer? Seriously?”

“Sarah? She could even give you pointers on your snark.”

Gray makes a face that makes Owen laugh and Zach chuckle. It’s partly surprised and mostly terrified.

Then Owen does the whole yawning-stretching-my-arm’s-on-your-shoulder thing and seriously? Is he for real? But Zach smiles into his lap and leans closer to Owen, so Gray bites of another snarky comment and instead asks about the hunts. It’s not like Zach told him anything of use on Sunday after all.

They finish their pizzas and soon it’s time for Owen to get up and do the show. Zach takes the empty boxes and takes them out to throw them away while Owen starts the show with questions from the audience. Zach is back soon and so they can watch the pack from their place close to Owen.

Every time Gray sees the pack for the first time in a while, he feels the same excitement he did when he met them for the first time ever.

After the show they go greet the raptors and once more Gray feels jealous when he watches Zach pet the girls. He knows why he can’t go with Zach and Owen close to the raptors, he understands why it would be too dangerous for him to go that close. Yet he can’t help but be jealous. Zach hasn’t even been interested in dinosaurs for the longest time (honestly, Gray still thinks that he only cares about the pack and not dinosaurs in general) and it’s him who gets to pet them? Not fair.

“They are disgusting, huh?” comes from next to him. Gray’s so surprised he jumps a little before turning to see Monica. He knows it’s her because she’s snapping picture of Owen, Zach and the pack even as she speaks. She’s wearing a dress in the exact same color as her light blue hair, along with white converse. “I’m surprised the raptors haven’t eaten them yet. Probably good, too. Wouldn’t want them to get diabetes.”

Gray turns back to them. They’re teasing each other, snarking a little. Not that different from what they’ve always done.

“They’re not so bad.”

Monica lowers her camera and looks at him, before snorting. She probably wants to say something, but then Zach’s phone chirps, he steps back and looks at it. Then he sighs, says something to Owen and with a simple kiss goes back to Gray and Monica.

“Great, so you two have already met. Monica, this is Gray, my brother. Please, look after him. Gray, Monica is part of the raptor’s PR team, her expertise is Instagram. Keep close to her and Owen will take you with him when he gets home for dinner. I have a meeting I have to go to, so I’ll see you in the evening. Monica, do you know if there’s a free car I could borrow somewhere?”

“Carl’s going to the center for something. If you hurry you should be able to catch him.”

“Thanks, M. Be good, Gray.”

“I’m fifteen, not five!”

 

***

 

Monica dotes on him. There’s no other word for it and he mostly enjoys it. Mostly because she obviously attracts a lot of attention from almost every man in the paddock and some of those men are obviously jealous of him.

He likes Carl and Jon, too. Jon seems a little awkward before Gray gets him talking about raptors. Then they spend almost three hours talking only the two of them. Gray enjoys it immensely and by Jon’s smile he’s not the only one.

Carl isn’t like that. He looks lost in the face of Gray’s babble, but that’s nothing unusual. Instead Gray helps Carl with his Facebook post so it gets more likes than Monica’s Instagram post and that’s how the pranks start. Gray helps Carl plan most of the pranks and Monica some of them and enjoys the privilege of not being blamed for either. Being the baby of the family has its perks.

Not everyone is that happy about him spending most of his time at the paddock. He usually takes the first bus for tourists and goes back with Owen. Owen even starts taking both his helmets with him for it.

Gray knows some people are not happy about him, but he never realized it’s that bad until one man starts yelling at him. He’s not sure what exactly he’s done wrong but suddenly the man’s yelling at him about how useless he is and how he only gets in the way.

Gray tries to not let it get him, he really does. But he always was sensitive and he knows it about himself. It takes all he has in him to school his expression into an angry one and not to start crying. But the man just goes on and on and Gray can feel his resolve fading.

“What’s going on here?” comes from the door. Gray flinches, but when he looks at Owen he’s not looking at him. He’s glaring at the guy who was practically yelling at him, Owen’s expression dark and dangerous. The guy takes a step back and suddenly Gray can breathe more easily.

“Nothing. I was just making sure the kid knows his place.”

Owen crosses his arms across his chest, the guy shivers and Gray grins.

“And what place exactly is that?”

Owen’s voice is dark and quiet and Gray’s smile grows even wider. The guy who was yelling at Gray just a minute ago now looks afraid and, more important, speechless.

“Gray, Zach just called. Steaks at my place good for dinner tonight?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Great. Now, go find Monica.”

Gray rolls his eyes but doesn’t protest. Owen closes the door after him. Gray lingers after, but Owen doesn’t shout. He sighs in disappointment but turns around and goes find Monica.

Still. Having someone as badass as Owen as his (practically) brother-in-law is definitely cool.


	2. Chapter 2

Zach has weekends free, which is new and kinda cool. Owen doesn’t, which is neither new nor cool, but what can you do.

Still, Zach and Gray take some time to spend together. They sleep in and cook breakfast together and Gray is having a great time. He’s also never seen Zach laugh so loudly, so he hopes Zach enjoys it, too.

They take the walk to the petting zoo. It was Zach’s idea and Gray’s honestly surprised that his brother seems to genuinely enjoy it. Then they catch the jeep that drives the lunch to raptor’s paddock. This time it’s sandwiches and some fries that travel north along with them.

They help people find their orders. When they’re done there’s three sandwiches and two servings of fries left.

“Teriyaki chicken with extra cheese still your favorite?” Zach smiles at him a little, when he hands him said sandwich and one serving of fries, taking the remaining things himself. “Come on. Owen brought a blanket so we can have a picnic lunch next to the bridge, so he can eat and do a show right after.”

There really is a blanket on the space right next to the bridge, the one where Gray usually stands to see the show. Owen’s already sitting on it. The moment he looks up to see them he grins. It’s for both of them, but somehow it grows... smaller when he looks at Zach. Gray frowns a little when he sees it, but then he notices the somewhat gentle lines around Owen’s eyes and settles again.

“Hey there.”

Gray groans and punches Owen, before settling down, leaving some space between him and where Zach is already sitting down right next to Owen.

“Hey! That’s what I get for defending you?”

“No, that’s what you get for being a giant sap around my brother.”

“Wait a minute – defending? What happened?”

Zach looks worried and Gray can’t really argue with the soft look on Owen’s face right then, considering he’s sure he’s wearing a similar one. It’s nice to see Zach give those expression freely now.

“Some guy was being an asshole.”

“Hey!”

“Chill out, Zach. He is old enough to swear now and again.”

“And I’m not gonna stop him. But we’re coming back home in a week and if he slips in front of mum it’ll be my fault. Well... and yours, but considering you’ll be safe on an island about 5 thousand miles away from her...”

“Noted,” Gray nods and grins at him. The sandwich not only has extra cheese, but also some mayonnaise. Just the way he likes it. “Don’t curse in front of mum.”

“Thank you. Now – what happened with that asshole?”

They both look at Owen, but the older man just smiles at them.

“Let’s just say that we had a difference of opinion and I sorted it out. Didn’t even do any shouting.”

“Yeah, that was much scarier than shouting,” snorted Gray. Zach frowns and Owen starts shaking his head at Gray. That makes Gray freeze. “I mean... hey, I certainly didn’t hear any shouting.”

“Great save, Gray,” sighs Owen when he sees Zach’s face.

“Owen. What did you do?”

“Nothing. I swear! I didn’t even touch the guy. We just... had a talk.” When Zach’s stare doesn’t change, Owen sighs before glaring at Gray. “Don’t know when to shut up, huh? They’re gonna eat you alive in high school.”

“Hey! I’m starting sophomore year in like a week.”

“And you’re still alive? I found Craig yelling at Gray. When I asked what was going on, he said that he was just reminding Gray where his place is. So I kindly reminded him that Gray is, in fact, Claire’s nephew and if he even mentioned that incident to her Craig would find himself fired so quickly he wouldn’t be able to pack his things first.”

Zach frowns a little, but then sighs, resigned.

“That’s not all and I know it, but I’m letting this go for now. How was your week? Girls okay? Delta seemed a little down when I saw her last time.”

Owen talks, then Zach talks and even Gray gets to share with them the best pranks he helped Carl and Monica pull. Owen knew about most of them but hearing about how they managed to pull it is always interesting.

The show is as interesting as ever and after that they go see the girls up close and personal. Or just to see them through two sets of bars in Gray’s case, but he’s not complaining. Besides, Monica is right next to him and she already promised to send him all photos of Zach she has. Over half of them are with Owen, but Gray figures that he’ll be able to share most of them with mum. Well, maybe not the ones where he’s petting Echo while she does the weird, terrifying smile of hers.

After that Zach asks him if he wants to go with them, but he prefers to spend that time with Monica. Sunday is Jon’s day and he looks forward to him, too, but this is his chance to get to spend some uninterrupted time with his friend.

Besides, Zach and Owen haven’t spent any time alone since Sunday morning. Not really. They deserve some alone time.

Monica shows him how she edits the photos she posts on Instagram. She also shows him some photos of Zach and Owen she edited when she was bored. It’s not like people want to see those photos on official Instagram account.

She even lets him mess with a photo she took only minutes before. First they do the usual – better lighting, cutting out other people, contrasting it so the raptors stand proud and clear against the background. Then they start messing with it – adding hearts around the two of them, changing raptors for children... things like that.

Suddenly someone knocks on the open door.

“Hey, Monica. Have you seen Owen lately? The first tourists are starting to arrive.”

There’s a man in the door, in a practical gear that tells Gray he works in the arena, cleaning it and hiding the prey. He’s one of the guys that look at Monica with certain interest, but he’s usually mostly amused by Gray, not jealous.

“Seriously, James?” she practically moans. “I’m not getting him away from Zach again. You’ve sent me every time!”

“Well, you can at least get blackmail material out of it while the rest of us just get traumatized. Hey, Gray.”

James smiles at him a little, but it’s Monica’s manic smile that makes him gulp and shrink a little.

“Gray! Don’t you want to go get your brother? And while you’re at it you can get Owen to be in his place in the right time.”

“Really? You wanna send the kid?” James sounds skeptical, but he’s not arguing with her. No one really argues with Monica, Gray noticed. Maybe Owen was right that aunt Claire is a terrible influence on her.

“Better than me,” she grins at him. “Go on, Gray. This way I can prepare my camera in peace. See you later, James,” she winks at him and... is the tall, muscular man blushing?

Gray sighs, but he doesn’t mind it.

“Where will I find them? Owen’s office?”

“Yes, that’s where they’re usually hiding. Now go.”

So he goes. It’s not hard to find Owen’s office. He’s been there fetching Owen more times than he can count in the last week. Somehow Owen always manages to forget the time.

Or he just doesn’t care. It could be either of those.

Gray arrives at Owen’s office in minutes, but he stops in front of the door and listens for a while. He feels guilty about it, but he refuses to go in blind.

But he doesn’t hear anything. Somehow, that makes him even more nervous.

He knocks on the door.

“What?” comes Owen’s voice and it sounds a little annoyed, but not pissed. So Gray opens the door and steps in. What he sees doesn’t surprise him as much as it probably does other people.

Owen’s sitting in his chair, his legs up on his table. Zach’s in his lap, facing the door. He’s curled close to Owen. He raises his head, that was resting on Owen’s chest, to see and grin at Gray. They both have their phones in their hands, Owen’s free arm curled around Zach’s waist. They look comfortable and a little lazy and entirely too happy in each other’s space.

“Hey, Gray. What’s up?”

“The time,” Gray chuckles a little bit. “It’s almost time for the last show of the day. And you are kinda a key player in that.”

“Already?” Owen sounds more than annoyed then. He tightens his hold on Zach for a second, before letting go and patting his hip. Zach groans, but slips out of Owen’s lap and puts his phone in a pocket. “Where did the time go?”

Gray doesn’t know and would prefer not to find out. Although he doesn’t think they went further than kissing, it’s still kinda gross to think about his brother in this context.

Zach simply rolls his eyes at Owen, takes his hand and tugs. Owen lets him bring him to his legs.

“Come on, Owen. You go do your job and I’ll shop for the dinner. I’ll meet you at yours. You coming with me or staying here, Gray?”

 

***

 

It’s not that late when they all make it to Owen’s place. Thanks to that they all can go swimming before grilling their dinner. There’s some meat, but they also bought some vegetables and are experimenting with grilling them. Owen hates most of it, but his faces are hilarious and they make Gray and Zach laugh, so he tries everything anyway.

It gets dark sooner then they’re expecting and when Zach checks the time he sighs.

“Might as well wait for aunt Claire to arrive to drive us to my flat. I’m too tired to walk anyway.”

Owen snorts and looks at the time himself.

“Well, that gives us about an hour. Wanna go swimming one more time?”

Gray knows that Claire set the curfew at 10PM. So when it hits that time they settle in the chairs in front of the bungalow and simply talk. Owen has a beer in one hand and Zach occasionally sips from it but has a glass of juice for himself. It’s juice for Gray, too.

It’s twenty minutes after the curfew when they can hear a car nearing the bungalow. Owen grins at that and Zach rolls his eyes, before getting up and stretching.

“Come on, Gray, let’s get ready so we can get the bitching behind us as quick as possible.”

“Now, is that any way to talk about your aunt?”

Owen and Zach both disappear in the bungalow and Gray groans a little at that. But he supposes they deserve it. For about five minutes anyway. He’ll let aunt Claire do her thing after that.

The car arrives and Claire gets out of it practically at the same moment Zach stumbles out of the bungalow, smiling softly and tugging his shirt lightly to put it back to its place.

“Hi, aunt Claire,” he grins at her. “Thanks for the ride home.”

With that he rushes past her and gets in the car. Owen, who came out of the bungalow a moment after Zach, just shrugs at Claire.

“It was nice seeing you again, Claire. Why don’t you come by more often? You know, you could stop by during the day.”

“Don’t try me, Owen,” she replies curtly. “Gray.” Oh no. He’s in trouble.

The way back to the center is silent and tense. Zach went to the back seat first, but after the icy look Gray got from Claire he wasn’t too eager to sit next to her, so he sat next to his brother.

Claire’s clutching the steering wheel tightly and every time she has to stop for a minute she claps it with her nails.

“If you wanted the ride, why didn’t you just call?”

“Aren’t you too important to answer a stupid teenager’s calls?” sneers Zach back and Gray blinks in surprise. He remembers this Zach, of course. He used to be grumpy and jumpy and touchy all the time. But after the week of happy, open Zach this comes as a shock. Especially because he seemed to genuinely like aunt Claire the last time he saw them together.

“You know that’s not how I think of you.”

“No. As long as it’s not concerning my love life.”

Claire stiffens in her seat and tightens her lips but doesn’t say anything else. When she stops in front of the complex that holds Zach’s flat Zach can’t run quick enough out of the car. Gray would like to follow him, but Claire turns towards him just then.

“Gray, a word. You go on, Zach.” Gray gulps. That’s not what he wanted. But Zach smirks and waves at him and he’s suddenly annoyed with him, too. It’s his fault anyway. He’s the adult one between the two of them, he should have been more careful about the time. “Weren’t you supposed to help me avoid these situations?”

“It’s not like they were alone there or anything,” he mumbles, but doesn’t look at her. He hates confrontation, but he also knows better than back down every time someone has a problem with him. He was on the wrong end of bullying often enough and tried everything so he knows that backing down doesn’t work. But he also knows that you need to be clever about standing up to them.

Not that Claire is a bully, but... you know. Same tactic.

“Then why did the two of them came out of the... building in the state they did?”

“They were there hardly two minutes, aunt Claire.” And sure, Zach is still a teenager, but two minutes isn’t long enough for anything... is it? “Like I said, I was there the whole time and nothing happened.”

Claire squints her eyes a little at him before nodding.

“Next time you stay out too long just call. I never have anything after eight o’clock so I will answer and go get you.”

“Sure. Thanks, aunt Claire.”

 

***

 

The next day goes almost the same way their Saturday did.

They wake up late, make breakfast together (French toast with bacon this time around) and go to the ride. Gray’s choice this time around. Which means that they’re stuck in the hamster ball, as Zach calls it. But this time around he’s fond and amused instead of annoyed. And he seems to enjoy himself, so Gray doesn’t draw attention to it.

They catch the jeep bringing the lunch to the raptors’ paddock once again. This time around it carries tacos. Gray doesn’t usually seek tacos, but he figures he can’t really complain. Besides, it’s been a while for him and he can definitely eat some without complains.

They eat together up next to the bridge, watch the show from up there and then Gray goes join Jon and Zach stays to spend some time with Owen. Jon seems as annoyed with it as Monica has been.

Honestly, Gray doesn’t understand.

“But they’re not really... having sex in the office, are they? They’re just... being sappy.”

“Yeah. That’s the terrible thing about it.”

“But... isn’t that usual? It is called the honeymoon phase for a reason, isn’t it?”

“Exactly. And that deserves some teasing.”

... does it?

“Why?”

Jon frowns at him.

“What do you mean, why?”

“Why does it deserve teasing? They’ve just got together, they’re happy together and in a week Zach will go back to his school and they won’t see each other for months, if not almost a year. Don’t they deserve some alone time cuddling?”

Jon scowls at him, but there’s something amused about it.

“Maybe you are too young. There you go applying logic to relationships.”

Gray snorts but grins at Jon. He can see the admittance of being wrong without it being said.

Or if not outright wrong, then not entirely right. With a little luck Zach and Owen will be able to spend their last week together somewhat in peace.

 

***

 

Monday morning comes and with it Zach’s usual breakfast with aunt Claire. Gray isn’t looking forward to it. Last week’s was terrible and he can only imagine how much worse this week’s gonna be with the scene he was a part of only two days ago.

So when there’s knocking and he goes to open the door he’s surprised to find Zara there. She smiles at him while putting a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She’s perfectly put together otherwise, though – sensible heels, dark blue pencil skirt to her knees, soft, cream-colored blouse, a touch of make-up and messy bun that looks surprisingly fashionable. Her smile is warm and a little amused.

“Hello, Gray. Is your brother ready? I am to play the buffer between him and your aunt, after all.”

They leave soon after. Zach in his black, tight jeans, light blue shirt and with still wet, rumbled hair looks surprisingly well-fitted next to Zara. Gray mentions it and both Zara and Zach find it hilarious, so Gray is reduced to playing their photographer while the two of them pose, Zach with an arm around Zara’s waist and Zara slightly leaning to him. He makes the photos on both their phones so they can send them to Zara’s husband and Owen both. He’s not sure how he feels about that, but the two of them look more than happy, so he leaves them to it.

Once they make it to the hotel restaurant, the atmosphere gets much more tense. Aunt Claire looks even more competent than Zara. Where Zara is full of casual formality, aunt Claire is much more office formal. Gray never minded that, but now when both Zara and Zach get quiet once they make it to aunt Claire’s table it’s hard not to be intimidated.

“Good morning, everyone. How was your weekend?”

Zach snorts, but lets first Gray and then Zara tell their stories. By the time they finish (Zara spent her weekend lazying around with her husband, just the two of them and some Netflix show) their breakfast is there so Zach busies himself with his scrambled eggs and toast. When he finishes he quickly excuses himself and goes to do his job, Zara leaving with him.

Suddenly, Gray wishes Zach would drag him away with him the same way he did last week. But no, he doesn’t have such a luck.

“I thought you agreed to help me, Gray.” Aunt Claire’s glare is hard and cold and Gray can’t look her in the eyes.

“You wanted to make sure they weren’t alone. They weren’t.” And honestly? Gray feels worse and worse about that. He knows aunt Claire worries that Owen is gonna pressure Zach, but from what he’s seeing, Zach is the frustrated one. Owen is mostly resigned.

“Then why were they alone in Owen’s home?”

“I told you, they were there hardly for a minute.”

“Then why was Zach’s clothes so... crumbled?”

“Honestly? I think he did it on purpose,” sighs Gray and palms his face, tired. “He’s frustrated and angry at you. I think he wanted to piss you off.”

Aunt Claire frowns and Gray fidgets. He’d give everything to be somewhere, anywhere else right now.

“Why were you out there so late anyway?”

“We got carried away.” Gray’s voice is quiet and he knows it, but he can’t help himself. “We were talking and having a great time and before we knew it we were too tired to go back by foot. It was too late anyway. Honestly, if Zach had his car we’d leave right there and then, but he doesn’t have it here and Owen’s bike can take only one of us with him, so it would be too complicated. So we waited for you.”

Aunt Claire obviously doesn’t like it, but she presses her lips together and nods.

“Well, next time, call. I better go now before I’m running late again. I’ll see you Sunday, Gray.”

Gray smiles a little awkwardly and once aunt Claire disappears behind the closest corner sags in his seat.

That was the opposite of a pleasant breakfast and he’s honestly glad it’s behind him.

 

***

 

The week goes by in a blur. Gray starts it at the paddock, but then Lucy asks about him so he goes with Zach to his work for a change.

Gray’s surprised when instead of going out to take photos, Zach takes him to the PR office. There’s some older guy in an ill-fitting suit, balding and scowling at Zach before disappearing in the only closed off office on the floor. Zach chuckles when he sees it, but simply goes to one of the tables that are in the otherwise open office.

The guy at the table is tall, lean, with long, dark hair and dark brown skin. He’s slouching and going through some papers on his desk.

“Hey, George.” The man jumps a little and looks up. When he sees Zach he relaxes and smiles a little, tired smile.

“Hi, Zach. Can I do something for you?”

By the way he’s still going through the papers he doesn’t really have the time to do anything for anyone. Gray frowns a little. The guy looks stressed and overworked.

“I was actually thinking about doing something for you. Still interested in moving to the herbivore team?”

The man stops, puts all the papers on the desk and slowly turns back towards Zach.

“Don’t tease me like that, man.”

“I’m not teasing. I’m leaving and Lucy is overtaking the team, but I’m still supposed to find someone to handle Instagram. You think you can handle that?”

The man frowns a little, but after a while nods.

“It wouldn’t be my first choice, but... If I get to leave this damn office? Yes.”

Zach laughs a little, but there’s worry lines on his forehead.

“You’d have to finish the month here while learning about what we do and how to work Instagram. You sure you can make it?”

The guy sighs, tired and kinda defeated, but he nods.

“Zigotskij wants the report of how well we’re selling gifts and memorable merchandise till the end of the week. I think if I stay late today I should be able to finish it and you can teach me your ways for the rest of the week.” He stops for a moment, not looking at them. “You sure I can switch? Zigotskij is still pissed at all of us who wanted to be part of your team. Tessa already quit.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s all settled. And hey, don’t run yourself sick, I can prepare enough posts for next week so you’ll be able to learn everything next week from the girls if you have work.”

“Yeah, but I’d rather learn it from you,” the guy (George?) grins a little embarrassed at that. “Besides, one on one learning is always the best.”

“Fine, but we won’t start tomorrow. I can walk you through it in two days.” Zach takes a pen and a note from George’s desk and writes something down. “Here, my number. Let me know when you’re free. I’ll leave you to your work now.”

With that they leave. Gray looks at Zach a little bit in awe.

“What?” Zach snaps after a while, grumpy. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Do you seriously have the power to just... move someone to your team?”

Zach snorts.

“No. And since Saturday it’ll be Lucy’s team. Well, technically since Monday, but... Aunt Claire has the power.” He shrugs. Gray frowns a little bit. He thought Zach doesn’t talk with aunt Claire...?

“When did you and aunt Claire talk about this?”

“Yesterday. Over mail,” Zach adds with a smile. “I might be pissed at her on the personal level, but she’s my boss and I do need to work with her even when I’m pissed at her. We figured it out with Zara’s help during the day. I can’t leave the team without a person to maintain the Instagram, that would be irresponsible and wouldn’t be helpful for my future career here.”

It was that moment that Gray realized that Zach is, in fact, an adult. Thinking into the future, working with people that he doesn’t really like at the moment and thinking everything through before acting.

Then Zach grins at him and jumps a little between his steps and the adult quality in him suddenly disappears. It’s almost freaky.

“Come on, Lucy and Sarah were suspiciously insistent that I come to our office at ten and we’re almost late for that.”

Gray’s actually surprised they have an office for themselves. He always met them somewhere among the rides, taking pictures or collecting information about their posts. It makes sense, of course, that they have the space and maybe a computer and programs to edit the photos (probably the same ones Monica showed him on Saturday), Gray just never went there.

Now he only gets to take a step into the room before the girls are yelling: “Surprise!”

There’s a cake on a single table in the middle of the room with four chairs around it, some glasses and a bottle of wine, along with coke (for him, he thinks). There’s also some balloons, one of them with the word “Congratulations!” on it. Gray... doesn’t really understand it.

But Zach’s smile is as wide as he ever saw it and Lucy is already hugging him.

“You didn’t have to.”

“Of course we didn’t,” snorts Sarah and winks at Gray. “You’re the best boss we had in years, did you seriously think we’d let you leave without some sort of goodbye? But we didn’t want to butt in your goodbye with Owen, so we moved it to earlier in the week.”

Gray doesn’t miss how Zach’s smile gets sadder.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

The girls quickly make him smile and then laugh again, but the sudden sadness worries Gray a bit.

It’s later, when half the cake and half the bottle is gone (Gray got only a sip and he didn’t like it anyway), they’re sitting on the chairs, talking and laughing together and honestly, Gray’s mostly just watching the three of them talk and tease each other and laugh together, but he doesn’t mind.

“Owen has the Saturday free, right?” Sarah grins at Zach at one point. Zach’s face falls a little and his eyes stray towards Gray for just a moment. Not enough to be obvious, but Gray notices. “That means hunt on Friday. Are you going to do the raptors’ team work for them again?”

Sarah’s voice is teasing, but Zach’s smile is suddenly strained and Gray frowns.

“You know I can’t. Aunt Claire didn’t let me go to a single hunt since the first one.”

And yeah, okay, Gray can understand why she wouldn’t want him out in the open with the raptors. But...

The conversation turns away from that and turns towards if Zach is looking forward to going back to school and then the girls tell some stories from their time at college and Gray is mostly left alone to think.

 

***

 

Gray doesn’t have Owen’s phone number, so he has to steal it from Zach’s phone. It’s not as easy as it sounds, because Zach always has it on him and in the evening Owen is with them, so Gray has to do it in the morning when Zach’s showering.

He goes back to the paddock on Wednesday and Thursday, but on Friday he goes with Zach. Zach looks surprised at that but doesn’t protest.

At half past four, he turns towards Zach.

“Shouldn’t you be headed to the paddock if you want to be there in time for the hunt?”

Zach gives him a confused look.

“What? You know I can’t go to the hunt. Aunt Claire would kill Owen if she even thought I came that close to the girls.”

Gray just shrugs and grins.

“Better not tell her then. Why don’t you go up there right now and just... I don’t know, do whatever it is you two are doing. I’ll cover for you today and probably tomorrow, too. Just remember that you have to pack, because we’re leaving Sunday morning and you’re not packing in the night.”

Zach just stares at him for a moment, before smiling so brightly Gray has to blink a few times.

“I... really? That’s awesome, Gray. Thank you so much. I’m just... yeah, I’m gonna go.”

“Wait! Give me your phone.”

Zach frowns at that and presses his phone to his chest. Typical Gen Z. Gray rolls his eyes.

“Aunt Claire got it hacked, that’s how she was able to monitor you. Leave it with me, she won’t suspect a thing.”

Zach’s surprise turns to outrage.

“That bitch! And you knew about it all this time?”

“Yes. Now I’m giving you a whole day alone with Owen, so we’re even.”

Zach makes a face but gives him his phone and then quickly runs towards the center, to find a way towards the paddock. Gray just smiles and pockets Zach’s phone while taking out his own.

_Zach’s all yours for about twenty hours. Just hide in your bungalow and you should be safe. Let me know when Zach’s coming, he doesn’t have his phone_

There’s a reply almost instantly.

_Whatever you want, I’ll get it for your birthday_

Then, another text

_When is your birthday?_

And next.

_This is Gray, right? Cause if not then it’s suddenly incredibly creepy_

Gray laughs and goes to the last feeding of the Mosasaur of the day. No reason to be bored while Zach has his fun.

 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, feedback is appreciated =o)


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